Why is it EJ Norvill's honesty that appears to be on trial?

No one outside the Federal Court room has accused Eryn Jean Norvill of doing anything wrong.

Yet in the last week or so it has seemed very much like she is the one whose honesty is on trial.

The 34-year-old dragged into the defamation case of the year has been accused by a prominent SC, Bruce McClintock, of attempting to "smear" and "blacken the name" of her fellow King Lear cast member, Geoffrey Rush, 67.

Norvill has had her name blackened and smeared by Mr McClintock's allegation that she is the kind of person who would spread a pack of "disgusting lies". "Disgusting". Apparently this is a fine claim to make against someone in a court of law.

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In a fight that is not her own, nor one she ever wanted to be involved in, between acting titan, Rush, and publishing giant, Nationwide News, it is Norvill who has been treated like the real villain.

Her accusers have done a very professional job. Then again, in Australia this is a well worn formula.

All is fair, apparently, even if the alleged victim never wanted to go public, nor colluded to release any information about the alleged harassment.

Norvill blanked the media after the Daily Telegraph published stories Rush had "behaved inappropriately" towards a (then as yet unnamed) fellow cast member in two stories and a newsagent poster, triggering this defamation action. She never spoke to the Daily Telegraph nor wanted the story out.

Why would she? As a young performer in a small and crowded Australian creative community, one still controlled almost exclusively by older, more powerful men, Norvill would have well known to speak out against a revered star was tantamount to career suicide.

Having been outed against her wishes, she has appeared during the long trial to have been regarded very much as collateral damage, both as a performer, and as a woman.

Sure, in the United States, the #MeToo movement has liberated women who have stayed quiet for years to speak about their experiences; but in Australia, as we've seen, we're not quite ready for such a mass bearing of souls.

Women here have noted how quickly the #MeToo balloon went up and came back down. Unlike in the US, where there are more powerful women in the entertainment industry and in public and private roles generally, here, young women are not a power demographic.

They cannot automatically assume they will be handled respectfully, as some of the goings on in this court case have made abundantly clear.

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Not that Eryn Norvill intended to put her own power to the test; let's not forget all she did was mention her alleged experience to a Sydney Theatre Company colleague in a pub, with the stated intention not of instigating a formal inquiry into Rush's alleged behaviour towards her, but of sparing other women similar.

Someone else leaked this information, setting off a chain of events that led to her witness stand horror.

As Fairfax columnist Jenna Price wrote last week, women watching this must be angry as they can relate to the feelings they can see Norvill experiencing.

Like Price, I am not speculating on the outcome of the case, but the way Norvill has been manhandled in court has been shocking to see.

Many young people, in particular, must be wondering why it seems to be her truthfulness, her integrity and her credibility on trial.

A stark take-out from this case is that Australian generations see what is, and isn't, okay in terms of your interaction with co-workers very differently.

Young professionals now, in whatever field, know you would no sooner call your female colleague, especially someone with far less seniority than you, "yummy" and "scrumptious" than upskirt them. Yet judge Michael Wigney said he was "grappling with" why that language is a problem.

Young professionals, no matter how "playful" their workplace is (as director Neil Armfield described the rehearsal room to be) would have a very clear understanding about what physical jokes and gestures you make towards colleagues.

A generational disconnect between what is considered respectful treatment has been very evident during a trial that will be the stuff of Eryn Norvill's nightmares for decades.

Given what we have seen, no young person would doubt that, as the Daily Telegraph barrister, Tom Blackburn SC, attested, Eryn Norvill "desperately, desperately" did not want her alleged harassment to end up in this hellish spotlight.

That it has, and that Norvill has been so besieged by attacks on her character in the court process, will make young women who believe they have been harassed even more hesitant to do anything about it. The risk, as we've seen, is too, outrageously, great.